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Terrorism: First Impressions 3 Terrorism CHAPTER 1 First Impressions OPENING VIEWPOINT: THE IDEOLOGY OF AL-QA’IDA Prior to his death in May 2011, Osama bin Laden established of evil. Western and Muslim nations that do not share Al-Qa’ida as an international network that came to symbolize Al-Qa’ida’s vision of true Islam are enemies. the globalization of terrorism in the 21st century. The network is • Violence in a defensivedistribute war on behalf of Islam is the perceived by many to represent a quintessential model for small only course of action. There cannot be peace with the groups of like-minded revolutionaries who wish to wage transna- West. tional insurgencies against strong adversaries. Although Al-Qa’ida • Becauseor this is a just war, many of the theological and certainly exists as a loose network of relatively independent legal restrictions on the use of force by Muslims do not cells, it has also evolved into an idea—an ideology and a fighting apply. strategy—that has been embraced by sympathetic revolutionar- • Because U.S. and Western power is based on their ies throughout the world. What is the ideology of Al-Qa’ida? Why economies, mounting large-scale mass casualty attacks did a network of religious revolutionaries evolve into a potent post,that focus on economic targets is a primary goal. symbol of global resistance against its enemies? Which underlying • Islamic governments that cooperate with the West and commonalities appeal to motivated Islamist activists? do not adopt strict Islamic law are apostasies and must Al-Qa’ida leaders such as the late bin Laden and his succes- be violently overthrown. sor as leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, consistently released public • Israel is an illegitimate nation and must be destroyed. pronouncements of their goals, often by delivering audio and video communiqués to international newscopy, agencies such as Al These principles have become a rallying ideology for Islamist Jazeera in Qatar. They also became quite adept at using Internet extremists who have few, if any, ties to Al-Qa’ida. Thus, the outlets and social networking technologies as communications war on terrorism is not solely a conflict against established resources. Based on these communiqués, the following prin- organizations but is also a conflict against an entrenched belief ciples frame the ideology ofnot Al-Qa’ida:a system. • The struggle is a clash of civilizations. Holy war is a reli- Note gious Doduty and necessary for the salvation of one’s soul a. Adapted from U.S. Department of State, Bureau of and the defense of the Muslim nation. Counterterrorism and Countering Violent Extremism. Country • Only two sides exist, and there is no middle ground in Reports on Terrorism 2016. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of this apocalyptic conflict between Islam and the forces State, 2017. 2 Copyright ©2021 by SAGE Publications, Inc. This work may not be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means without express written permission of the publisher. Chapter 1 Terrorism: First Impressions 3 errorism has been a dark feature of human behavior since the dawn of recorded history. Great leaders have been assassinated, groups and individuals have committed acts of incredible vio- lence, and entire cities and nations have been put to the sword—all in the name of defending T a greater good. Terrorism, however defined, has always challenged the stability of societies and the peace of mind of everyday people. In the modern era, the impact of terrorism—that is, its ability to terrorize—is not limited to the specific locales or regions where the terrorists strike. In the age of television, the Internet, satellite communications, and global news coverage, graphic images of terrorist incidents are broadcast instantaneously into the homes of hundreds of millions of people. Terrorist groups understand the power of these images, and they manipulate them to their advantage as much as they can. Terrorist states also fully appreciate the power of instantaneous information, so they try to control the “spin” on reports of their behavior. In many respects, the 21st century is an era of globalized terrorism. Some acts of political violence are clearly acts of terrorism. Most people would agree that politi- cally motivated planting of bombs in marketplaces, massacres of enemy civilians, and the routine use of torture by governments are terrorist acts. As we begin our study of terrorism, we will encounter many definitional gray areas. Depending on which side of the ideological, racial, religious, or national fence one sits on, political violence can be interpreted either as an act of unmitigated terrorist barbar- ity or as freedom fighting and national liberation. These gray areas will be explored in the chapters that follow. September 11, 2001: The Dawn of a New Era. The death of Al-Qa’idadistribute leader Osama bin Laden in May 2011 occurred prior to the 10th commemoration of the September 11, 2001, ter- rorist attacks on the U.S. homeland. The attacks were seen by many as a turning point in the history of political violence. In the aftermath of these attacks, journalists,or scholars, and national leaders repeatedly described the emergence of a new international terrorist environment. It was argued that within this new environment, terrorists were now quite capable of using— and very willing to use—weapons of mass destruction to inflict unprec- U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation edented casualties and destruction on enemy targets. Terrorist movements also became quite adept at using social networking technologies and the Internet to recruit and inspire individuals to carrypost, out mass-casualty attacks against “soft” civilian targets. These attacks seemed to confirm warnings from experts during the 1990s that a New Terrorism,1 using “asymmetrical” methods, would characterize the terrorist environment in the new millennium.2 (Asymmetrical warfare is discussed further in Chap- ters 8 and 10.) Several questions about this newcopy, environment have arisen: • How has the new terrorist environment affected traditional terrorist profiles? • How has traditional terrorism been affected by the collapse of revolu- tionary Marxism?not • What is the likely impact of “stateless” international terrorism? ReadersDo will notice that these questions focus on terrorist groups and movements. However, it is very important to understand that terrorist states were responsible for untold millions of deaths during the 20th century. In Photo 1.1 Osama bin Laden. From addition, genocidal fighting between communal groups claimed the lives the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation of many millions more. Our exploration of terrorism, therefore, requires us most-wanted terrorists website. Bin to consider every facet of political violence, from low-intensity campaigns Laden was killed during a raid by a U.S. by terrorist gangs to high-intensity campaigns by terrorist governments and naval special forces unit in Abbottabad, genocidal paramilitaries. Pakistan, on May 2, 2011. Copyright ©2021 by SAGE Publications, Inc. This work may not be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means without express written permission of the publisher. 4 Part I Terrorism: A Conceptual Review This chapter is a general introduction to the subject of terrorism. It is an overview—a first glance—of basic concepts that will be developed in later discussions. The following themes are introduced here and will be explored in much greater detail in subsequent chapters: • First Considerations • Conceptual Considerations: Understanding Political Violence • The Past as Prologue: Historical Perspectives on Terrorism • Terrorism and Criminal Skill: Three Cases From the Modern Era First Considerations At the outset, readers must develop a basic understanding of several issues underlying the study of ter- rorism. These issues are ongoing topics of research and debate among scholars, government officials, the media, and social activists, and all of them will be explored in detail in later chapters. The discus- sion here introduces the following: • An Overview of Extremism and Terrorism • Terrorism at First Glance • Sources of Extremism and Terrorism distribute An Overview of Extremism and Terrorism or Extremism is a quality that is “radical in opinion, especially in political matters; ultra; advanced.”3 It is characterized by intolerance toward opposing interests and divergent opinions, and it is the primary catalyst and motivation for terrorist behavior. Extremists who cross the line to become terrorists always develop noble arguments to rationalize and justify acts of violence directed against enemy nations, people, religions, or other interests. Extremism is a radical expression of one’s political values. Both the content of one’s beliefs and the style in which one expresses those beliefspost, are basic elements for defining extremism. Laird Wilcox summed up this quality as follows: Extremism is more an issue of style than of content. Most people can hold radical or unorthodox views and still entertain them in a more or less reasonable, rational, and non- dogmatic manner. On the other hand, I have met people whose views are fairly close to the political mainstreamcopy, but were presented in a shrill, uncompromising, bullying, and distinctly authoritarian manner.4 Thus, a fundamental definitional issue for extremism is how one expresses an idea, in addition to the questionnot of which belief one acts upon. Both elements—style and content—are important for our investigation of fringe beliefs and terrorist behavior. Extremism is a precursor to terrorism—it is an overarching belief system terrorists use to justify their violent behavior. Extremism is characterized by what a person’s beliefs are as well as how a Doperson expresses his or her beliefs. Thus, no matter how offensive or reprehensible one’s thoughts or words are, they are not by themselves acts of terrorism. Only those who violently act out their extrem- ist beliefs are terrorists. Terrorism would not, from a layperson’s point of view, seem to be a difficult concept to define.
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